Still Struggling

[u/bbb5270]

My husband had his prostate removed over a month ago. He is still passing a lot of blood and his testicles are swollen and painful. He saw his surgeon’s PA yesterday. His blood count is low: hematocrit 32 and hemoglobin 11. His doctor ordered an US and the tech told us he had fluid in his testicles probably from surgery. The doctor hasn’t called with the results; although he wrote a prescription for Cefdinir twice daily. The PA tried to convince me the bleeding is from the hematoma that formed in his prostate bed after surgery. This doesn’t make sense to me since he had the cystogram before the catheter removal and there was no leakage. How is blood getting into the urethra? My husband is very depressed, regretting the surgery, and just lying around. Can anyone add some insight?

[u/Cold_Silver_5859]

After a radical prostatectomy (RALP), blood can still enter the urethra and exit through the penis because the urethra remains connected to the bladder, and the surgical connection is still healing.

. Fluid can move and accumulate in the scrotum and pubis symphysis. Cool compress helps.

Time to call and ask to speak to your actual doctor, not the PA. Mention what the PA said.

[u/sappertodd]

Everyone’s cancer is doing similar things but with much variation ( location, stage, aggressiveness, health of the patient, doctors’ ability and experience). I say that to suggest we all don’t heal the same and it can hit us mentally too.
Insight - try not to rush him through the process. If he does not feel right maybe a follow up appt is appropriate to discuss what is not right.

He went through some major surgery and it can be very humbling.

28 May RALP, I’m getting better but it’s a journey.

I took Gemtesa to help me with bladder spasms for a while. That helped me with continence.

[u/isntthatrich]

My testicles were very swollen for a while. They cleaned me out. Took the seminal vesicles and vas deferens. I'm not sure if that's standard.

Slow walks might help move some of the blood around. It might also ease some of the depression. It helped me to keep to a regular walk schedule. 10-15 minutes every hour or so.

The surgery is intense. I think it gets downplayed as "well tolerated" but well tolerated for whom? I took a month off from work and still felt like I should have taken two more weeks.

First the surgery beat me up and then the healing really took a lot of energy from me.

The way people make is seem is that they are up and at it in a few weeks. It all depends on the person and the extent of the spread of cancer.

Keep your husband in touch with his care team.

[u/rjberb → u/isntthatrich]

I totally agree with that. In general, you hear that prostate cancer treatments are not that bad. Well, it depends on what kind of treatment you’re talking about. In my case I have had prostate surgery, ADT therapy and radiation. There’s are a lot of side effects that are very difficult for some people, including me.

[u/rjberb]

I understand why your husband is depressed about the situation. My situation, although not identical is fairly similar. Earlier this year , mydoctor said my PSA is going up so he checked it out and did a bunch of tests to determine that I have prostate cancer. In preparation for my cancer radiation treatments. I needed to correct some existing urinary problems from an enlarged prostate. On September 21, I had a procedure called Aqua ablation, which is not total prostate removal, but it is taking out a lot of prostate tissue to improve urine flow. That was a month ago and i’m still having blood in my urine and pretty painful bladder contractions. It is getting better but much slower than I anticipated. I am confident that I will be healed and be in much better shape but instead of three months it may take a year or so, but I can wait as long as things are getting better.